Tim Grobaty: Scuba Show comes to Long Beach, stirs unhappy memories

TAKE A DIVE: When we get around to writing our memoirs, you can bet one of the most striking parts of the book will be the part about how, when we were 12 or so, we wanted to be a scuba diver. We pored through magazines and catalogs, putting together the most righteous gear - tanks, regulators, fins, wet suits, spear guns - only to have our dreams trampled upon by our parents who refused to buy all that stuff.

Next time you think you're having troubles, pause for a moment to think of that little brown-eyed 12-year-old whose hopes of becoming a great undersea adventurer were wrenched from his tiny fingers and hurled into the darkness by his madly cackling parents.

It still hurts, and we don't have the stomach to have it all come rushing back at us by attending this weekend's Scuba Show at the Long Beach Convention Center.

It's the 25th edition of the popular public show, and there's nothing you won't find here that's related to the wonders of the last great frontier on the planet.

Gear, of course, and plenty of it, but also tours, instructions, demonstrations, seminars, auctions, a film festival and even a cool after-hours gambling fest.

The show hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. On Saturday, right after the show closes (6 p.m., as we've seen), there's a Casino de Mayo blast in the convention center's Seaside Ballroom. Entry is free, but then the trouble starts as you're lured to the gaming tables, perchance to drink.

Admission to the Scuba Show is $12. Kids under 13, as we once were when we still had dreams, get in free.

TAKE A BIKE: Somewhat ruining the hot-selling heart-wrenching aspect of our memoirs is the fact that our parents and grandparents always got us the coolest bike: A Schwinn Sting-Ray Deluxe (that's right: Deluxe. With a fancy E at the end) when we were little, a Schwinn Varsity 10-speed when we were a young teen and a Peugeot 10-speed when we became sophisticated.

So, it is safe to say that you can't tell us anything about bike riding. We were doing it before it was cool. Now, it's become so popular you've got mayors and city managers doing it all the time, and we're sure our pedaling politicians will be at the scene for the weekend's cycler-packed BikeFest Tour of Long Beach, which returns downtown Saturday at The Pike at Rainbow Harbor.

The fest features a number of rides, ranging from a Family Fun Ride to a grueling and arguably un-fun 100-mile Cruz Gran Fondo, with the Mama Bear-sized 31-mile tour of the town being, we're guessing, the most popular of the rides.

Additionally, there's an all-day Finish Line Festival, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Event Park at The Pike, at Shoreline and Pine Avenue, featuring a kids' activity area, live entertainment, BMX stunts, bike valet service, a vendor fair, and food stands and beer garden.

The Bikefest Tour of Long Beach starts at 6:30 a.m. Saturday at Marina Green Park. The Bikefest Bike Festival will go from 9:30a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at The Pike at Rainbow Harbor.

For those of you who still have "cars," you should know that beginning at 5 a.m. Saturday, the westbound lanes on Shoreline Drive will be closed from Ocean to Pine for the tour. They are expected to reopen by 9:30a.m.

TOUR IN FULL BLOOM: We're going to let you down easy now with a tour of local (and occasionally far-flung) gardens. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, you can check out gardens - real home gardens put together by real home gardeners - from San Clemente to Long Beach during the Mary Lou Heard Memorial Garden Tour. It is a yearly, self-guided charity event held by the Mary Lou Heard Foundation, a California nonprofit organization dedicated to continuing Mary Lou's life work for children's oncology and homeless and abused women with children.

There are no tickets to buy; no price will ever be set for viewing the gardens. Instead, your cash or check donations are joyfully gathered at any garden on the tour.

This year's tour includes 44 gardens in Orange County and Long Beach, including eight in Long Beach.

A local highlight will be the Bembridge House garden at 952 N. Park Circle. The house's garden has been landscaped by volunteers over the past four years.